The White House said Monday that it has nominated Michael LoSapio, the chief information security officer of Palantir Technologies, to direct the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Homeland Security agency that defends the country’s civilian networks and much of its critical infrastructure.
It is a nomination, not an appointment. LoSapio must be confirmed by the Senate before he can take the job, and the agency remains led in the meantime by its acting director, Nick Andersen. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment reported by Reuters.
The vacancy he would fill is a long one. CISA has been without a Senate-confirmed director for almost 22 months, since Jen Easterly stepped down in January 2025. An earlier nominee, Sean Plankey, withdrew in April after senators blocked his confirmation for months. In that time the agency’s staff has fallen by about a third, and the past three months have brought the disclosure of three large breaches, at the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Pentagon, even as attacks aided by artificial intelligence put more pressure on defenders.
Palantir is one of the federal government’s largest technology contractors, which means the confirmation hearings will test two things at once: whether a career security practitioner from industry can rebuild an agency that has lost a third of its people, and how he answers the conflict questions that come with moving from a major contractor to the agency that works beside contractors. Those questions belong to the Senate, and we will report the hearing when it is scheduled.
Transparency note: This story is based on Reuters reporting of the White House announcement and of the agency’s recent history. The nomination’s Senate record will be checked as it posts.
